Interview with John Campbell

John Campbell of Glenrath Farms is probably the least shy person in the UK poultry industry, never leaving you guessing where he stands on an issue and always ready to lobby for what he sees is best for producers.

His 50-year career in poultry, based in the Scottish borders, has seen him rise from a small-scale hill farmer to one of the country’s biggest egg producers, supplying 1.4m eggs to the UK’s supermarkets every day of the week.

Throw into the mix a 10-year stint as mayor of his local town of Peebles, two runs for the Scottish parliament, an OBE and numerous industry awards, (including the International Egg Person of the Year in 2010), and you begin to understand why he has been so successful.

Poultry World reporter Scott Casey visited John at his flagship Millennium Farm in Scotland and sat down in his office, clad wall-to-wall in the Campbell tartan, to hear where one of the modern industry’s founders sees the poultry sector today.

The egg industry faces many challenges, from the impending 2012 cage ban to the associated free-range glut and increasingly strong animal welfare legislation. What do you see as the biggest issues?

Government legislation is our biggest challenge, be it EU, Scottish, Welsh or UK. With the EU cage ban, it’s obvious southern European countries will not be ready and it looks as if there will be a derogation.

According to the World Trade Organisation, animal welfare cannot be a barrier to trade and we are worried that these eggs will end up in our secondary market.

Next year is going to be horrendous for the UK egg industry. If countries get derogations, then we don’t know what will happen. We hope the government will take action to stop these eggs crossing the Channel.

Then there is the Welsh and Scottish governments giving (cage conversion) grants, which have distorted the egg market, coupled with the British Egg Industry Council doubling the free-range stocking density from 1000 to 2000 birds a hectare, against the wishes of Glenrath and Freedom Food. That was a terrible mistake.

We’ve had 20 years of demand outstripping supply, but now supply has outstripped demand.

What do you think can be done to reset the balance in the egg sector?

Exporting free-range eggs to Europe. We hope we will be able to do this because the UK is further ahead in conversion than all other European countries. If we can’t do that, I don’t see much of a way out of it.

If the market is over-supplied, then the market decides egg prices, not the supermarkets. There has been all this over-production in the UK, then the price goes down, which results in government interfering with the market.

This causes havoc and distorts the market and producers suffer.

In parts of the UK and in some EU countries, governments are providing support to farmers to convert ahead of the cage ban. Do you think producers should be receiving grants to convert to alternative systems?

We were unaware of the assistance at the beginning and we spent £23m out of a total investment of £43m. Then we applied for a grant and got £700,000 to modernise two houses.

We applied because everyone else was getting it, but we think it is wrong. It’s a policy that has distorted the market seriously. The old hens are still there and the new hens are there too.

Every producer is now sharing the pain of increased production costs because of the soaring price of feed. What do you think will take the pressure off producers and lower feed costs in the UK?

The industry has been caught cold by the £40-50/t increase in feed inputs, which adds about 9p a dozen and has hurt producers badly.

Perhaps it could be the start of the world food shortage that has been predicted, and no doubt it will happen with the increase in population. People are already panicking and wheat is a basic commodity.

I think the market has got to change its policy on GM feed because it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to source non-GM feed for poultry. We hope the UK government can legislate on this and help educate the public that this is the way forward.

The retailer’s reaction has been that it is government that has got to make the decision.

Introducing compulsory on-farm egg stamping in free-range units has been delayed until mid-2011. What do you think of the rules and their affect on the industry?

Stamping free-range eggs is a waste of money. For the system to be effective, eggs have to be stamped in the shed where they are produced. There’s no point carting them to a central stamping place because eggs can come from anywhere. It’s double handling and it’s an unnecessary charge.

Glenrath is in the process of completing its 10th shed at the Millennium Farm. Do you plan any further expansion at the site or other sites in Scotland?

That’s a good question. The market will decide.

The Glenrath story

John Campbell started poultry production in 1957, beginning with the 113 hens his wife raised with her poultry farmer parents in Argyleshire.

The Campbell’s moved to Glenrath Farm near Peebles in the borders and became breeders, raising and selling pullets. Business conditions were harsh and this resulted in John being forced to sell part of the farm to fund the business. It’s with great pride that he now talks about how this year, 49 years later, he was able to buy back the land he originally sold, reuniting the original farm.

In 1970, the industry began to expand on a massive scale and Glenrath had a choice – to expand or join the many producers leaving the industry. Suffice to say, John expanded, buying another egg farm and renting two more from another producer who had gone out of business. John went to Edinburgh and sold his eggs directly to retailers long before it was fashionable for produce to be “farm fresh”.

Finally, the couple picked up a contract with a Scottish supermarket that was eventually absorbed into Tesco, which today takes 75% of his eggs, while 25% goes to Asda.

John says it is a dedication to his customers that has made the business so successful. “Our policy is to give our customers what they want, how they want it and on time. It’s as simple as that. We found it hard earlier this year with the snow and the horrendous weather at Easter but we never missed a delivery.”

Essential numbers

• – 12,000 acres in Peebleshire

• – Three more sites across Scotland

• – £43m spent to convert for 2012 cage ban

• – 200,000 fewer birds since converting to enriched cages

• – 16 contracted suppliers.

• – 1.4m eggs produced, seven days a week

• – 200 employees